Teaching assistant unionization has again gained attention after a Friday ruling by the National Labor Relations Board that certain Brown University graduate students have the right to unionize, and following TA strikes at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Duke Graduate School administrators and Graduate and Professional Student Council officers said they doubt either case will significantly affect the University, which they said has shown little interest in unionization.
The Brown ruling, issued by Rosemary Pye, director of the NLRB's Boston office, dismissed the university's argument that TAs are students before employees. Brown graduate students will vote on unionization this week. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, if the university does not adhere to the ruling--something it is considering--the NLRB has said it will sue the school.
"Our position has been that all of our graduate students are students, rather than employees and that this view is most beneficial to the educational process," said Peter Estrup, associate dean of Brown's graduate school. "[Unionization] is an issue of great importance at all universities right now."
At Urbana-Champaign, TAs went on strike Wednesday to protest the administration's refusal to recognize their union. The group representing the union said up to 10,000 students had canceled classes because of the strike.
Lewis Siegel, dean of the Graduate School at Duke, said he does not foresee the need for unionization at Duke, as opposed to some institutions like New York University where the cost of living is very high, or some state schools where TAs are state employees.
Siegel said that if the University was faced with an NLRB ruling, it would likely appeal if it had the option, but would follow the final ruling. But he said he would not welcome unionization.
"The cost of unionization is very straightforward from our point of view," he said. "The stance of unions at virtually every university that has them is adversarial. It makes it very hard to improve things... and it would probably make it harder to make the improvements we are making now."
In the last few years, the Graduate School has increased stipends and lowered the number of hours TAs can work--issues GPSC President Elayne Heisler said unions often address.
Economics graduate student and TA Tom Ahn said he and other TAs he knows do not think there is a need for a union at this time. "I've found the faculty to be interested and responsive to my questions and requests regarding workload and pay," Ahn said. "What exactly will bringing in a third party and possibly paying union dues get me that I cannot get by simply walking down the hall to talk to my professor?"
Five years ago, social science TAs received about $10,000 in stipends, compared to $13,000 this year and $14,000 next year, Siegel said. Similarly, TAs in the natural sciences five years ago received $11,500, compared to $14,500 this year and $15,500 next year. The Graduate School also has guaranteed financial support for up to six year if students cannot otherwise get it, rather than the four years guaranteed in 1995 and the five years in 1998.
Students can now only teach two courses, compared to five or six in the past. Siegel said students can make more money teaching only two courses than they could in the past teaching more.
The Graduate School has also encouraged departments to devise a structured program for the TAs, starting with leading discussion sections and grading, then teaching courses more in a specific area and finally teaching courses on their own.
Will Tyson, GPSC ombudsperson, said he thinks quality leadership and communication between administrators and graduate students have prevented the need for unionization.
"The topic comes up every now and then, but we are not entertaining thoughts about unionization, though we do keep abreast on the topic," said Tyson, a third-year sociology graduate student. "Unionization would be a move that would be considered only after all other options are considered."
Heisler said not many students have come to her asking for unionization.
"I actually hear more about it from administrators and random people than from students," said Heisler, a third-year sociology graduate student. "I'm not sure how much of that is because I'm pretty discouraging of it... and how much of it is just because there is no interest."
Heisler said she thinks unions create an hostile atmosphere and pit the social sciences, which often have more TAs, against the natural sciences, which do not.
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